GivingWorks

NEWS

April 4, 2005: The Institute of Museum & Library Services releases landmark report on African American museums

The Institute for Museum & Library Services (IMLS) has released a report prepared by GivingWorks outlining the strategic challenges and opportunities facing African American museums nationwide. The release of African American History & Culture in Museums: Strategic Crossroads and New Opportunities dovetails the appointment of Lonnie Bunch as the director of the future National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution. The report also complements President Bush’s request to Congress to appropriate funds to launch an IMLS program to strengthen African American museums across the country.

IMLS – the nation’s single largest grantmaker for museums and libraries – convened about 30 museum leaders and visionaries from across the country to address the unique role of African American museums in the 21st century. IMLS engaged GivingWorks to help these talented experts tackle the implications and opportunities of shifting demographics and technology, increasing competition, constrained funding, and growing professionalism in the field.
GivingWorks played three distinct roles in this endeavor. First, we helped launch and frame the discussion by presenting a strategic overview from our independent perspective. Second, we designed and facilitated a lively discussion to help IMLS and its stakeholders to debate and prioritize what needed to be done and how – from fundraising, marketing and outreach, museum operations, governance, and strengthened access to field resources. Finally, we developed a synthesis of the dialogue to inform others in the field. According to IMLS Director of Museums Schroeder Cherry, GivingWorks was “extremely responsive” and “highly efficient” in making adjustments as the project evolved. He further notes that “IMLS will use GivingWorks’ synthesis to guide our agency in the development of a new initiative designed to serve museums nationally.”

March 5, 2005: GivingWorks President Nazir Ahmad speaks at 2005 Social Enterprise Conference at Harvard University

GivingWorks president Nazir Ahmad was invited to speak on a panel at the 2005 Social Enterprise Conference presented by Harvard Business School and John F. Kennedy School of Government. The panel, Applying Private Sector Tools, brought together cutting edge innovators to discuss how private sector tools could be adapted to serve social sector organizations. Joining Mr. Ahmad on the panel were Ellen Kaplan, a pioneer in the application of the Balanced Scorecard, and Jason Saul, founder and CEO of B2PCommerce Corps, a company tailoring software to the needs of nonprofits. The discussion was moderated by Fernande Raine, executive director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights and a former executive with Ashoka.

Panelists were asked to discuss the topic from their respective expertise in refining mission (Kaplan), developing and implementing strategy (Ahmad) and supporting software tool implementation (Saul). After general discussion, Mr. Ahmad provided a quick overview of several tools that GivingWorks uses with clients to inform fundamental strategic choices. Using a causal map developed by GivingWorks, Mr. Ahmad illustrated that social sector goals were far more complex than those faced by most private entities. He further showed that the resolution of difficult social problems required both an understanding of how “non-linear” causality plays out across complex systems and an appreciation of how such systems evolve over time.
The engaged audience asked many questions about using tools and the intersection between private sector and social sector organizations. A veteran of both worlds, Mr. Ahmad argued that both sectors could learn from and gain from each others’ competencies and social capital. He then shared how for-profits could partner with non-profits to enter underserved markets in a socially valuable way. Questions continued to flow after the formal discussion ended. Later in the day, Nazir and colleague Yvonne Stone hosted a group lunch with students and practitioners. The focus of the second discussion extended beyond tools, and addressed how social sector organizations should establish priorities, define results, and link data and evidence to decision-making for greater impact.

July 13, 2004: Thailand produces landmark report on the Millennium Development Goals

On July 13, 2004, His Excellency, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra presented Thailand’s Millennium Development Goals Report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Secretary General welcomed the report, saying, “Thailand is to be commended for setting ambitious MDG-Plus targets, going well beyond those agreed internationally.” Prime Minister Thaksin expressed the hope that the Thai endeavor “can serve as an example of how the MDG framework can be adapted and applied in a middle-income country.” By extending and expanding the MDG targets to ensure that the benefits of sustainable development reach all parts of the country, Thailand has, indeed, emerged as such a model. It has been our privilege to assist with this effort since its inception.

In 2002, GivingWorks was invited to design and facilitate a workshop on the MDGs sponsored by the National Economic & Social Development Bank (NESDB) and the World Bank Office in Bangkok. GivingWorks president Nazir Ahmad presented our MDG-Plus methodology at this workshop attended by senior officials of multiple ministries as well as international agencies. (Download the Report: August 2002 MDG Workshop Report for Thailand.) Following the workshop, GivingWorks was engaged by NESDB to serve as the international consultants for the preparation of its national report on the Millennium Development Goals. The UN coordinated the participation of various international agencies in this undertaking. GivingWorks’ role was to provide independent advice to NESDB on the design and formulation of the analysis, to review and revise the drafts, and to help ensure that the benefit of global best practices was embedded in the Thai MDG Report.
While MDG Reports have been produced for a number of countries, the undertaking by Thailand was distinctive in several ways. By seriously applying the MDG Plus framework, Thailand arrived at a set of ambitious but pragmatic development outcomes that will inform the country’s development efforts in the next decade, and reaffirms the possibilities of MDGs as an organizing platform. The rich analytic and collaborative process that produced the report also strengthened the country’s knowledge base as well as new working partnerships among key government agencies, academia, and the international community. The report also creatively articulated how the MDG framework could facilitate middle income developing countries like Thailand to make a stronger contribution towards improving the development prospects of their neighbors. Finally, the Thailand MDG Report is noteworthy because of the unusual level of interest it elicited among key decisionmakers.

It was our honor to assist and advise such a talented confluence of government planners, local experts, and international agencies in producing this landmark report.

December 3, 2004: GivingWorks Senior Consultant Addresses Georgetown MBAs

GivingWorks Senior Consultant Paul Hashemi spoke on a panel on the consulting industry on December 3rd, 2004, to MBA students at Georgetown University. The panel, addressing the topic “Bringing Value to the Client,” was comprised of professionals from McKinsey & Company, BearingPoint, Gartner Group, Fluor Corporation, Design Alliance, and GivingWorks. The hour-long discussion addressed how each of the firms approaches the task of building client value.

The large and spirited audience asked questions ranging from the role of internal research and development to the ways that success is measured. Representing the only company on the panel exclusively focused on social impact, Mr. Hashemi highlighted the flexibility and customer service ethic required to serve clients effectively. One questioner asked how a small firm can compete with the larger “body shops” that can draw on expertise from across a vast pool of consultants, often including former employees of the client organization. “We don’t compete with the body shops,” he replied. “Our clients tend to be leaders in their own fields. They do not hire us because we have more in-depth knowledge of their field than they do. They hire us because they are looking for fresh perspectives and new and creative solutions. We have found that by demonstrating our value as informed, independent outsiders, we have been able to help clients looking for breakthrough change.” Mr. Hashemi also indicated that the firm maintains a steady focus on social impact in all its assignments. “Our ultimate measure of success is how much we have helped our clients maximize their social impact. If they can make improvements – and have positive effects on others – then we know we’ve served them well.”

February 24, 2004: Thanks for making the Winter Leadership Workshop a success!

On February 24, 2004, GivingWorks hosted its first Winter Leadership Workshop. Participants represented a diverse group of organizations, including local, national, and international nonprofits, private foundations, corporate foundations, and associations. GivingWorks President Nazir Ahmad started off the session with a discussion of the changing communications environment facing nonprofit and foundation leaders, driven by an emerging focus on results and enabled by dramatic advances in technology.

Workshop leader Lisa Baird then guided the participants through a tour of cutting-edge topics in branding, drawing on her experiences at IBM and her observations and experiences with the nonprofit sector. Jointly developed with GivingWorks staff, the workshop covered:

The structure of a well-managed brand, and the distinctions between social brands and commercial ones

The ways that branding and communications practices help drive the value networks of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations

Innovative ways that technology can create value for public-benefit organizations

We would like to thank all of our participants for their thoughtful and enthusiastic contributions, and our speaker, Lisa Baird, for sharing her insights and energy with us. The workshop validated some of the conceptual frameworks and practical tools that GivingWorks has developed to help our clients grapple with the role of communications and technology in philanthropy.

GivingWorks can provide a tailored version of this workshop for your organization. To learn more about our work at the intersection of branding and philanthropy, or to join our mailing list for future Leadership Workshops, please contact us.

Lisa Baird, Vice President responsible for Worldwide Integrated Marketing Communications at IBM Corporation, is a member of the GivingWorks Advisory Board.